Imagine Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Funds in the Hands of Locals

Charlotte leader says Imagine HRC funds in the hands of the locals

Shane WIndmeyer, founder and director of the national group Campus Pride and local Charlotte and North Carolina LGBT leader, submitted the following guest commentary to us last week. We couldn’t fit it in the post-HRC Carolinas Gala print issue (March 7), but we plan on getting in the March 21 print issue. I thought we’d get it up online as soon as we could though. Windmeyer provides some thought-provoking questions for Charlotte’s LGBT community. Perhaps it is time for a better organized, more well-funded local community, he says.

REPOST with Permission from QNotes, March 7, 2009, http://blog.q-notes.com/

 

Guest Commentary
by Shane Windmeyer, Charlotte, NC

Imagine: $700,000 for local LGBT advocacy & support

It is over. Tux rentals are returned. Gowns are at the dry cleaners. Checks are written. Cocktails consumed. Credit cards are swiped. Photos adorn Facebook. A collective sigh — once again, we imagine another step taken toward equality.

After five years in Charlotte, it is good to ask what the return on investment has been having the Human Rights Campaign Carolinas Dinner in our backyard. In justifying the $700,000 raised, a conservative estimate, HRC will say they have an active presence in the Carolinas through tabling at Pride celebrations, lobbying for national legislation and, of course, hosting events that are fundraisers for HRC. The HRC Dinner has helped our community in the eyes of local politicians and big corporations who realize we do exist now. Plus, there are many wonderful talented local volunteers who work tirelessly to plan the dinner.

This year’s dinner theme was “IMAGINE: What do you Imagine?” So, let us for a moment imagine if that estimated $700,000 had been spent for advocacy and support in our local community.

• Imagine if the Charlotte Lesbian & Gay Community Center had a budget to pay for professional staff salaries (director, assistant director, programs coordinator) comparable to HRC staff salaries. Or, just imagine if our local center had a budget that would pay for more than utilities and rent. Ask yourself: Would HRC’s Joe Solmonese work for under $35,000 a year as CEO? What type of quality of a director would HRC get? Would HRC be as effective if they ran solely on volunteer support without any staffing? Of course, not. Why do we expect our center to do that?
• Imagine if MeckPac had $50,000 to back an openly LGBT candidate to run, for the first time ever, on the ballot for local city office, county commissioner, etc. Think of the hearts and minds in Charlotte that would change by having a local LGBT leader in our community live and lead by example.
• Imagine if the Charlotte Business Guild could have the necessary resources to create an LGBT economic development plan with a team of professionals — businesses, developers, planners and investors. The plan could support the growth and development of LGBT and ally owned businesses, even possibly an LGBT and ally neighborhood living community.
• Imagine if Time Out Youth could have more resources to help LGBT homeless youth get off the streets and have safe housing, education and support with health issues — specifically our young transgender populations.
  Imagine if RAIN could have increased monies to focus on the alarming rate of gay men who are rapidly growing in the number of new HIV cases or more money for health services reaching to LGBT persons of color.
• Imagine the possibilities. The list is truly endless on what we can do locally to advocate and support LGBT equality at home.

If anything, HRC and the dinner have helped Charlotte realize that we can throw a great party and raise a lot of money. But was the $700,000 raised by the HRC Carolinas dinners a good investment to get us any closer to achieving LGBT equality?The decision last year by HRC (or as some have said, the Human Rights Compromise) to not stand united for inclusion of transgender people in employment non-discrimination legislation makes one wonder. What about the fact that HRC as a national political organization still has yet to pass one single piece of pro-LGBT legislation into law? Let us hope that with a Democratic President and Congress this will surely change.

What I do know is that I can now buy a spiffy pair of underwear with an equality logo on it and a Harvey Milk embroidered track jacket from the HRC store. I would like to think the $700,000 has done more — but I am unsure, frankly.

Some may see my remarks as critical, merely pointing blame and nothing more. After all, it makes us feel uncomfortable to think that we believe in an organization that has not been successful with our money. But trust me, I am looking in the mirror myself. I was one of the first co-chairs who originally brought the HRC dinner to Charlotte. I was a HRC Board of Governor for two years, until I resigned. I had been a volunteer since 1992 when I was in college. I stood by HRC and part of me still does believe, maybe naïvely, in what HRC can do for LGBT equality nationally. But I have also witnessed the bad side of an organization that has actively worked to stamp out other regional and national organizations’ efforts and take all the credit so they can raise more money. Whether we admit it or not, HRC has become a political fundraising machine — at the peril of others within our own LGBT and ally family.

Next year the HRC dinner will move to Raleigh. Now we have an opportunity far greater than HRC. Charlotte must begin by doing some soul searching.

Our LGBT and ally community is only as good as each of us can imagine. Our local LGBT and ally community needs to have that $700,000 and more in order to continue to grow over the next five years. We deserve professionally paid staffing at our Lesbian & Gay Community Center and other LGBT local organizations so we can ensure quality leadership and vision for the future. We also need volunteers and more opportunities to recognize their efforts. And, we need money.

If Charlotte can do it for HRC, then we can do it for ourselves. Put what you imagine into action today, whether that be volunteering or writing a check. Start now by investing in something you believe in locally.

 

— Shane Windmeyer is executive director of Campus Pride, based in Charlotte, N.C., the leading national organization for student leaders and campus organizations working to create safer, more welcoming college environments for LGBT students. For more, visit www.shanewindmeyer.com.